The flu

So, apparently there's been a stomach flu going around, because I got it yesterday. Talk about pure misery. And of course my body doesn't throw up, so I just felt nauseous all day. Thankfully Steve's on half-day schedules, so he was able to let me sleep most of the day. To make matters worse, whenever I was up, I was having strong contractions every 15 minutes. Bleh. I got a blessing last night and was promised to be able to sleep through the night. And that mostly happened, except poor Steve got the virus and was up all night throwing up. He finally went to the doctor this morning and got 2 bags of IV fluids because he was so dehydrated. He will probably sleep all day today. Thankfully it's just a 24-hour bug and I'm feeling much better, though weak today after not eating all day yesterday. Certainly not the best timing, but when would be?

The good news is my pregnancy counter says only 29 days... I am definitely ready to be done with this pregnancy. I even got all the baby things out yesterday and organized our closet to fit his clothes in with ours. Not an easy feat in our closet, trust me.

Here are those pictures from Christmas that Steve edited... again- I took these without help, so I took what I could get!

Ponies

This summer Emma and Mary gave Katie some My Little Ponies for her birthday. I never had them growing up, so they were never a big deal to me. But the girls love them- they just love horses (especially after being with Sybil's horse, Doc). Sybil had also gotten the girls some My Little Pony T-shirts this summer, which the girls wore nonstop. Anyway... a lot of times when Steve and I pick up food, we just get the girls a hamburger (hangaburger as Katie says) from McDonalds. When Mom was here we got some Chilis and then made our stop at McDonald's. I don't buy Happy Meals. I just don't. But since Mom was here, I got a couple to be nice and was pleasantly surprised by the toy. The girls love it! We've been twice now, so we have 3 different colors of ponies. Then Steve found an advent calendar with even smaller ponies inside, so now we have 3 sizes of ponies. It's one more toy to have around, but I don't mind- they're fun :-)

Picture proof.

Here's that promised picture. I'm 35 weeks today...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We had a very busy day today and I'm worn out! But the girls loved that Santa came and that they got presents from two sets of grandparents, Dick and Sybil and their friends Emma and Mary. So even though we kept Christmas small, there were lots of fun things to open today because of our very wonderful and generous family and friends. My favorite part (as selfish as it might be) was having the girls open the presents from me. I have been sewing every night for the last 2 weeks trying to get these dresses ICinderella and Tinkerbell) finished and was able to get them done Tuesday night. And the best part is that they loved them so much they wore them all day until friends arrived (and that always means the million changes of clothes begins). Sarah insisted on being in the picture- she's wearing one of ellie's leotards because she needed to dress up, too.
We were able to have friends over to share Christmas dinner and the girls always love having them come over and play. We were also able to do the webcam with Grandma and Grandpa and that allowed the girls to talk with Dick, Sybil, Carrie, Brad and Brandalee. The girls loved it, especially Sarah. Here are a couple pictures from the day (Erin, you might recognize the earrings that Sarah is wearing)...

Tricare and Fort Riley Medicine STINK!!!

Yeah, I had a horrible experience today. I was actually excited about going to the doctor today to meet my new doctor- who was supposed to be Dr. Leyba. My old doctor just left, so he gave me a couple recommendations and I chose her. I for sure didn't want Dr. Charles, who delivered Katie and left me in pain for a year until Sarah was born (I think I mentioned before). So anyway... we were all out running errands together this afternoon and Katie fell asleep on the way home. I figured it would be a usual 15-minutes in-and-out appointment, so I had Steve and the girls come with me so Katie could stay asleep in the van. Well, I get checked in and wait for 1/2 hour to see my doctor. Finally a nurse comes and asks if I would be willing to just see Dr. Charles (apparently Leyba was held up with a patient). Bad news #1. I figured it was just a routine OB, so I went ahead and agreed, knowing that Steve was in the van probably with three very squirrely girls. She comes in, looks at my chart and asked how I was doing on weight gain. I told her I was around 35 pounds (yes, the truth comes out) and she gasped and told me that was much too much weight. As if I'm not already self-conscious about how enormous this belly is of mine. So she tells me I need to make sure I watch what I eat. Gee... thanks. She measured me and everything was right on and the heartrate was at around 130, which she said was fine. Appointment is over and I go to make an appointment with Dr. Leyba in 2 weeks. Here comes bad news #2. Oh, her soonest appointment is January 21st. I was supposed to be scheduled for my c-section January 20th. Great. So then she starts searching for any available doctor in 2 weeks and it took her forever to find someone. She found Dr. Mason, who is a civilian and has been practicing for like 35 years or so. And I honestly don't care who my doctor is as long as he/she is competent. But since I won't see him for 2 weeks, I have no idea what day he does surgeries, so I have no clue when my c-section might be now. And then the bad news #3 is that I believe Dr. Charles assists on his c-sections. I don't want that woman near me. An hour later I finally leave the hospital and poor Steve is just done- and I don't blame him one bit. So my great day of shopping with Steve and the girls (and we did have fun) was ruined by this horrid experience. Now I'm feeling depressed and anxious and scared and uncertain about my future. Dumb Army medicine.

Long Update- sorry

Just a couple tidbits of what's been happening the last couple weeks:

My girls love to be helpful when we're grocery shopping. I always take all three girls (never ceases to be an adventure) and they love to help put the food on the counter to be paid for. Well, Mom was in town and she was keeping an eye on Ellie and Katie while Sarah was handing me groceries to scan in the self-checkout line (I thought I was taking the easier way out). Well, I turn around for a minute to scan and I hear my mom gasp. I looked over and saw that Sarah was being extra helpful by trying to hand me the eggs one by one. There were broken eggs everywhere. What do you do? I gave a great sigh, cleaned up the eggs while Mom got a replacement pack, and then just laughed. A little too helpful!

We've had our kittens over a month now. The girls are getting better... slowly. The cats are amazingly patient are really quite fun to be around. They really enjoy being in the action, which I sometimes wish they would just run for their lives!!! They're constantly climbing on everything- including the Christmas tree. We've had to remove all ornaments, as they like to swat at them and knock them off. Then Mom made some pipe-cleaner candy canes, which the cats also knock off and play with. Nothing is safe on that tree. Daisy even likes to nibble on the foil star that Steve and the girls made.

Ellie told me yesterday that she loves church day because it's the day she gets to wear her beautiful dresses. Yes, she is all girl! Katie and Sarah have learned to love to play dress-ups with Ellie (much to Ellie's enjoyment) and they come down in some very interesting outfits. The favorites lately have been the Halloween outfits- as Katie and Ellie can fit into all three dresses. Sarah prefers a rather silly, poofy pink skirt.

Sarah is just a crack-up. Some of the things she comes up with are just hilarious. She of course is great at saying no, but it usually comes out as, "uhhhh.... nooooo". So funny. While she doesn't have a lot of words that anyone outside the family could understand, she really is doing great at communicating. And she likes to copy her sisters- tonight she asked for a co-cone over and over again when she heard Katie request an ice cream cone.

Katie regressed on the potty training while Grandma was here. She's hasn't had a dirty diaper in weeks, but she tends to get that pull-up rather wet. I'll take it anyway! She is amazingly good at remembering and singing songs (although she is terribly tone deaf so far). The girls LOVE the Raffi Christmas CD the Tolmans got us last year and we listen to it whenever we are in the car. The girls know most of the words to most of the songs now.

And it was just wonderful having Mom here. But of course our week flew by far too fast, as usual. The girls did projects every day and had a blast doing it. Ellie informed me one day that I was no fun- only Grandma. C'est la vie, right? Mom helped me pick out fabric, etc. for the projects I'm doing for the girls for Christmas. I am so incredibly excited about them, too. Ellie and Katie are going to love it. I'm still not done and am not going to give it away, but will get pictures on Christmas.

Steve is finally done with his Masters degree from Webster University online (out of St. Louis), which is a huge relief. He is being highly recruited by BYU at the moment (obviously accepted there) and has his acceptance to Georgia Tech as well. We hope to find out mid-January about the other two schools: Purdue and University of Illinois.

I am amazingly large. Steve laughs almost every time he sees me because I'm so big. I just stick straight out. I might break down and get picture proof of it one of these days. I am having strong Braxton Hicks (some really hurt), I don't fit in most of my maternity clothes any more (strange for me), and I'm getting rather awkward doing just about anything. But I still have a month to go and will somehow survive! Carrying a boy is tough work!

I think that's probably enough for tonight. Oh- I did receive callings again at church. I'm back to playing the piano in Primary, which is great, and I'm also the Visiting Teaching Coordinator. That one will keep me busy! I tried my best to get a picture of the girls in their "beautiful dresses" after church by myself and Steve is currently cleaning one up for me. I'll try to get one posted soon. I'm certainly no photographer, but my subjects sure are cute :-)

Released

I was called into the Relief Society Presidency a few months ago as the Enrichment counselor. And I really enjoyed it. I liked helping the sisters, knowing what the issues were and being able to help, having that "in" so Steve (Elder's Quorum President) and I could discuss and share with each other how the ward was doing, and having that night off from home to have our meetings. Then our Relief Society President's husband got orders to Korea. So that meant it was time to reorganize the Relief Society again. I was surprised at just how upset I was about the fact that I wasn't called back in. The normal person would give a big sigh of relief. The other two were called back into the presidency, and that was probably part of it. I guess I felt that for some reason the new president didn't think I could handle it. And maybe she's right. With the baby on the way I will be busy and overwhelmed. And even if it had nothing to do with it, inspiration is inspiration. I can't argue with that. Maybe I'm just needed somewhere else. I'm not being demoted, just moved somewhere else. But honestly, that's how it felt. I'll just blame it on those crazy pregnancy hormones again. It's an easy out ;)

Quickie

I always say these will be quick and hopefully this time I can stick to that. So, even though I feel HUGE and have gained far more weight than I'll ever admit, when I went to see the doctor on Thursday (exactly 32 weeks) I was measuring 31 cm, so I'm back to my typical 1cm behind again. Maybe this boy won't be enormous after all? I also had to pick a new doctor, as mine is out-processing next week and won't be back for a year. He gave me a couple options and I chose the female doctor. There were a couple reasons for this choice. First of all, it was the first name that came to his mind- always a good sign. Second, when I asked about a c-section date (at 39 weeks) I found out the other doctor I had considered was being assisted by the doctor that messed up royally on my c-section with Katie. Not even interested in having her near my body- mostly for my mental consideration. It has been almost 3 years, so I'm sure she has improved, but that year was HORRIBLE after Katie and I don't want to even think about going through all that again. So it looks like my date (if this boy cooperates) for the c-section will most likely be January 20th. It's nice to have a date in mind. And it makes me feel good that it's just about 6 weeks away... I can do 6 more weeks.

And that's my update. Steve goes into the field for 10 days starting Monday-including sleeping over (the field being a patch of grass about 3 minutes from our house here on post.) Absolutely ridiculous to take husbands from families for 10 days right before Christmas. Infantry mentality makes no sense to me. I'll probably complain about this some more next week ;)

Elgan Family Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Starlight, Starbright

Every night that we were outside and it was dark Ellie would make a wish on the first star. And every night she would wish for a pet. She vacillated over what pet would be just right. For awhile it was an ostrich, then Steve tried to convince her of turtle, the other day it was birds, but usually it came back to either cats or dogs. And since there was no way I was getting a dog... I started to contemplate getting a cat. Of course it would have to be a kitten, so it could get used to these crazy girls that live here.

Steve finally agreed and after consulting with a couple people (mostly Mom) to be sure I wasn't totally losing it, I decided to go for it. I called all over town and searched the Internet to see where to get a pet and the only place is really the animal shelter. So last Friday I took the girls down for an afternoon at the shelter (the girls just call it the pet store). They had all sorts of options. Siamese kittens, calico kittens, teenage cats, adult cats, puppies, dogs (the girls were terrified in the dog room- too much noise) you name it. I grew up with a calico, so that was the kitty that caught my attention. Ellie liked the gray striped one, because it was the smallest. After looking at the cats for awhile we went to Walmart and stocked up on all essentials needed for bringing home a cat. I got cash and we went back. Since Ellie and I couldn't agree on which kitten to get- we got BOTH!!! Yep, we have two little kittens now. And they really are cute. We are having issues with litter training (I don't like cleaning up cat poop!), so they're locked in our kitchen until we can get that figured out. The girls just adore those poor cats. Just look at their faces in the pictures.

Ellie's cat, the striped cat, is named Daisy. My cat (or Katie's cat, depending on who you talk to) doesn't have an official name. Ellie describes her as being camouflage (only a daughter of a military guy would even know that word at age 4) so I call her camo kitty and so far that's what we call her. If anyone has any better ideas, we'd love to hear them! But it's fun having these additions to the family. Opposite of what Dad said, the girls have actually received a few scratches from the cats. They have to learn to be more gentle, and while the kittens are amazingly patient, sometimes the girls are just too rough. Here are a couple pictures of our feline friends...

The girls love when the cats will sleep on their laps. It is rare since the girls can't be calm around them. They are holding their respective cats.
One day I heard this enormous giggle come out of Sarah's mouth and out she runs with poor Daisy in her arms. You can see by her smile just how proud she was that she could do it. So, so funny.
The cats are fascinated by the laptop and like to sit with me at night while I work. They also find my belly to be the perfect resting spot, which I find amusing.

And there you have it. Daisy and Camo Kitty.

Potty Training

Something very bazaar is happening around here. Katie has decided she wants to use the potty now. Steve has been fighting tooth and nail with Katie the last couple months to get her to use the toilet. Both have been getting more and more frustrated. I decided to let it go, since pushing never did any good with Ellie. So then we had some friends over the other night and I caught Katie with that grunting face. I warned Steve and he whisked her away to use the potty. She took care of business, got a treat and has been doing great ever since. I had her in a diaper yesterday and she only had one accident. She even got out of the bathtub to use the potty. Today was pull-ups and while there were a couple incidents, nothing big. She doesn't need reminding to go, and she likes her privacy until it's time to get cleaned up. I'm really a little shocked by all this. It seems too easy... ? The funniest thing is that she practically has lived in the bathroom the last two days to get her treats. That kid has had more sugar pumped into her little body than I'd like to even think about. I'm thinking I need to get a little more organized and do a chart to earn the treats. But yeah... I would absolutely love to have her out of diapers before Junior arrives!

Hansel and... Sarah

We were all playing upstairs and Katie decided she was hungry. She went down and grabbed the package of hot dog buns. We reminded her that food does not belong upstairs so she took it back downstairs. The other two followed her. About 10 minutes later Sarah showed up with a fist-full of hot dog bun. I knew we were in trouble. Sure enough, there was a perfect little crumb trail from the kitchen to the girl's room. As the bun was in her right hand, there was even a predictable trail of crumbs every other stair leading up to the bedroom. At least she could find her way back, right?

Saturday is a special day...

Today I had the girls help me clean up the living room so I could vacuum. I pull out the vacuum and Ellie asks, "who is coming over?" I assured her we had no company on the way and she asked, "so why are you vacuuming?" Hmmm... Good question! ;-)

A couple firsts and a whole lot more...

Well, a couple new things have been going on here.

First of all, we finally have thrown away Katie's pacifiers. I have been wanting to do this for months, but have been chicken- to be honest. She has taken it better than I thought she would. We can very easily use logic with her and she understands more than I would think a 2-year old should. We have decided to wait a little longer before taking Sarah's pacifiers.

Second, I was pulled over for the very first time on Wednesday. I was leaving playgroup and saw the cop sitting there and was going under the speed limit (or so I thought). Turns out I was in a school zone that had no lights, just a posted sign- so if you didn't read the very fine print on the sign, you got caught. Luckily I got away with a warning. I guess it had to happen sometime, right?

Steve has received early acceptance into Georgia Tech, which is flattering. We're still shooting for University of Illinois, but it's nice to have that boost of confidence.

We had a ton of fun with Halloween, which I mentioned. I forgot to mention that when people asked us where the lion was, we would point to my belly and tell them he was cowardly... hehe. Sarah found her dress today and was excitedly dragging it around the house. I'm amazed at how much they enjoyed dressing up. Usually Katie doesn't like it (she cried every time I tried it on her while I was putting it together... she was afraid I'd poke her with pins, which I never did!) Sarah is going to be like Ellie and loves to dress up. She's been joining in with the girls and wearing "dancing outfits". It's very cute to watch her interact with them.

I went to the doctor this week and everything looks good. I'm measuring right on target and this little baby is as active as ever. I'm actually getting kicked in the ribs as I write this. The only bad news I received was that my doctor is being sent to schooling in December, so I have to pick a new one. Not what I wanted to hear, as I felt very confident in this doctor's abilities. I have made it clear I DO NOT want the doctor that delivered Katie (resulting in serious complications) and he said he'd speak with the other available doctors and pick the best one for me. If only he could wait another month to go to school! That's the Army for ya. I've also started getting heartburn, which is typical for me in the 3rd trimester. Time to pull out those Tums! And as always, I'm just constantly exhausted. I am such a wimp with this baby!

Sarah has started making huge strides in her speaking abilities. She repeats just about everything we say and is doing very well. Some of my favorite words of hers: pup (up), pep (help), kuck (stuck), foof-foof (woof-woof) and baba (baby- one of her favorite words). She's also down to just one nap a day.

Ellie had a haircut the day after Halloween. I had let it grow out so she could be Dorothy, but then we took off about 3 inches the next day. It's very cute and a little easier to manage. She still changes clothes at least 10 times a day and there are some days I get really tired of helping her put away her pile of leftovers on the floor.

I mentioned that Katie has ditched the pacifiers (she told us yesterday morning that she didn't need them anymore... the story changed that night when she actually didn't get it!). She is also much more talkative at night now that there's nothing plugging her up! She has basically dropped her afternoon nap, which is very sad. I would say maybe 2 or 3 times a week she actually takes one. She's still as stubborn as ever and and keeps us on our toes. But in the end that will probably be a good attribute for her to have! We have a lot of fun with her. She and Ellie are happy to tell anyone and everyone that their little baby brother is coming after Christmas. It's fun to see them so excited about it.

Belated Wishes

I am belated in wishing Steve a Happy Birthday on here (we didn't get to celebrate it until tonight) and also wishing everyone a Happy Halloween. It was an insanely busy week with Halloween activities three nights this week. Our costumes got some good use, but I'm sure glad we're done dressing up, doing hair and staying up late with those activities. And I'm glad I can officially hide that Halloween candy and the girls don't know any different. :-) I also put some more on our picture website at steve.elgans.com. You'll have to use the slideshow function to see the full pictures...

Almost Halloween

We went to a Ward halloween trunk-or-treat and how disappointing! We showed up shortly after 7 (we were just a few minutes late because I forgot the candy and we had to go home and grab it), went around the circle in the dark (why did it start so late again?) then packed up and came home- no more than an hour total, and half of that was driving time. Again- thoroughly disappointing. It's a good thing we have parties the next two nights. I didn't even get pictures, it was so rushed. I'll do my best to get some tomorrow. But I am thrilled about the way the costumes turned out. The girls were absolutely adorable!!!

To rewind a bit, I drove the girls and myself out to Illinois two weekends ago to get a break and to sew those costumes. It was so much fun being home again. The girls were thrilled (that first night that kept running in and out of their bedrooms screaming and laughing) and loved every minute there. Unfortunately they didn't adjust to sleeping very well, but otherwise it was a blast. We love being with grandma and grandpa. I did a lot of shopping (had to catch up on my Kohl's) and even more sewing. I was up late every night and spent most of the day sewing those costumes. But it was well worth it! Mom was a huge help and we were able to make the dresses look better than I had hoped. We made a trip to the Children's Museum one day, which was fun. The week flew by and by the time we left Saturday the girls were crushed. Ellie told us that she could stay at Grandma and Grandpa's- we have two other girls, we would be just fine without her. What a cute thing to say! I wish I could have stayed longer and gotten a little more rest! I've been exhausted ever since I got back. That was a lot of driving for one pregnant girl! We're going to try and convince Mom and Sybil to come visit us again soon :)

I am definitely not doing well with this pregnancy. I am constantly tired and frustrated with... everything. This little boy is bringing out some kind of monster in me. I am getting bigger tons faster, my usually glowing pregnant skin is riddled with acne, I get charlie horses every night, my body definitely doesn't handle the day-to-day tasks nearly as well as it used to (aka sore back and body) and I really am just constantly exhausted and an emotional wreck. It will be a very long 3 months until this little boy arrives.

Enough complaining.

So again, hopefully I will get some great pictures of my Oz family tomorrow and have them posted soon. After all that hard work, someone ought to see them other than in the dark! :-D

Creative

I have decided recently that I'm tired of always cooking the same thing, so I've been trying out new recipes. There were a couple from my brother, Geoff, a couple from my mom and a couple that I got off the internet or one of my many cookbooks. I was getting excited about it until I got going. I have tried 5 or 6 of those new recipes so far and it has been rather frustrating. Steve has enjoyed them all, which is nice, since he can be picky sometimes. But the girls and I haven't been nearly as thrilled. I can see why my mom was so frustrated with me- the pickiest of eaters. How frustrating to make a meal and not have it eaten! So far we haven't found any new "family favorites", but there are a couple that I'll probably make again and see if maybe the girls had a bad night or I fed them too many snacks before dinner. I'm hoping that's all it is. I still have many more experiments to go.

I'm feeling much better now with the pregnancy. I went in today (they had to reschedule me from Monday) and I'm at 24 weeks, measuring 23- just as I figured. The heartbeat is still strong in the 140's and the doctor said the ultrasound looked great. Always good news. Probably the fastest appointment I've ever had (I doubt it was over 3 minutes with the doctor) but that was fine with me.

Being in the relief society presidency has given me quite the eye opener into just how hard the Relief Society President has it. I don't know if it's just this ward, but there is constantly something that needs done or a family in need. She's pretty good at delegating, and just what I have been assigned to do has me exhausted. How in the world do we keep so many sisters happy and prospering in the Gospel? And raise a family! On a day like today it makes me wonder.

Funny girls

The girls just crack me up sometimes. Katie has such a unique way of speaking and I'll be sad when she loses it. We were driving the other day and we smelled skunk (which the girls have now used to label any bad smell that enters the car). So of course we started talking about it.

Katie: I pell kunk!
me: you smell the skunk?
Katie: Yes, kunk pell poopy?
me (trying not to laugh): I suppose the skunk might smell poopy.

later on...
Katie: I see booties!
(again Steve and I try not to laugh) and after consideration... Oh- you see birdies?
Katie: yes, I see booties

So funny. Also, Ellie has become enthralled with anatomy, both male and female. I have had to correct her for drawing certain body parts on both girls and boys and let her know that modesty carries over in our drawings, not just with what we wear. I'm not even going to say who she drew yesterday, but I would have been terribly embarrassed if anyone else saw the picture before we had Ellie draw clothes on the poor exposed drawing.

We took a couple family pictures this morning before heading over to church to listen to Conference. I'll try to get one put up on here as soon as Steve is done editing it :)

About my pregnancy: I've told a couple people this lately, but I'm getting too old for this. And I'm not even 30 yet! I have had more aches and pains and pulled muscles that it's getting ridiculous. I apparently pulled a ligament and it didn't heal for 2 full days! Ouch. I also pulled a muscle in my neck- never fun. Then this morning I woke up and could barely stand or breathe because I managed to pull a muscle in my back. Again- absolutely ridiculous. If I hadn't seen the ultrasound I would swear there were 2 babies in this tummy of mine (although most everyone else would argue that I'm not very big...). I have had lots of headaches this time around as well, which I don't really remember having with the last three pregnancies. Steve has decided I need more exercise to keep my body more limber. He's probably right. So in all my spare time (and I don't mean at 6am) I'll see what I can do :-D Yes, yes- woe is me. But even amidst my frustrations, this pregnancy is going great. This little boy is extremely active! I see the doctor again tomorrow morning and we'll see how I'm measuring. I'm typically 1-2cm smaller than "normal", so we'll see if I'm following that trend again this time. Steve has edited lots of pictures tonight. I'll see if I can snag some tomorrow and post them- it's been awhile since I've done that.

Midnight Sun

Okay, so for all those "Twilight" fans out there, did you know about the whole scandal with "Midnight Sun?" There are a few girls in the ward who are obsessed with this series and they informed me of this. If it weren't for the fact that the author put it on her own site, I wouldn't have read it for copyright reasons (my dad ingrained in me the importance of copyright laws, as he's a musician) but I delved in and read all 264 pages in 2 days. Aaaaaah... now I can't wait until she finishes so I can read the whole thing!!!

Great News!

We have some wonderful news to announce- we are expecting baby number 4! And what is the gender?... drum roll please... it's a BOY!!! Steve is on cloud 9 and we are extremely excited to meet this little guy. My due date is January 29th, but it'll be at least a week earlier than that, as this will be a repeat C-section. So yes, that means I'm 22 weeks along and I was able to hide this from friends and family to this point. Now I've popped out and there's no denying it anymore! Looks like I'm going to need to figure out a new name for my blog... :-D

Busy Week

This week has been busy, busy, busy!!! We are all feeling the effects of it as well. Monday was grocery shopping/laundry/FHE. Tuesday was a baby shower, Wednesday was a Presidency meeting (for both Steve and me), Thursday was Enrichment, Friday I took a breath and watched some Monk and Psych online :), Saturday was Stake meetings in Salina, an hour away, and today was more meetings and church. And I just got a call to take dinner to another sister in the ward tomorrow. Steve had to put the girls to bed alone twice this week. Katie is now scared of the rain and having her bedroom door closed when she sleeps (and is afraid I won't be there when she wakes up), Ellie has become more emotional about... everything. And Sarah is just slightly more clingy with me. Steve says it's good for them to get some time away from Mom, but it's hard on us all! I'm exhausted physically, emotionally and spiritually. This will be a great learning experience, but it'll take practice to get into the groove of it all. Steve told me last night- just wait until the girls get into extracurricular activities... then you'll think all of this was a piece of cake! Nice...

On a lighter note... here are some funny things the girls have done.
Ellie has raided my closet and now wears my tank-tops that I wear under my clothes as nightgowns or dresses. She thinks they're pretty.
Katie has an interesting way of asking for dessert. She tells us she wants "dirt".
Sarah has become quite the conversationalist and we caught her yelling at her sister this afternoon for being naughty. She loves to run and walk on her tiptoes- she is typically doing one of those at all times.

And last, but certainly not least- we are soooo excited to have Mom come visit tomorrow. Just one more sleep! :-D

Deprived?

Okay, so is Ellie absolutely deprived because I haven't enrolled her in either preschool or dance class? Pretty much everyone I know with a 4-year old has enrolled them in both. I'm starting to question my parenting choices!!!

Avanti's Bread Recipe

Avanti's is an "Italian" restaurant in central Illinois that makes yummy sub sandwiches. Pretty much the only people that love the rest of Avanti's food are the ones that grew up eating it, but really, this bread makes very tasty sandwiches. You oughta try it out.

Here is the 2-loaf version of the Avanti's bread (I make them as long loaves on a cookie sheet).

1 cup warm water
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp oil
1 egg
1/3 cup plus 1 1/3 tsp sugar
3 1/3 cup flour

Then bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Then you just get some salami, ham, american cheese and lettuce and you're set. I love these sandwiches!

Avanti's

I have been wanting an Avanti's sandwich for about 2 weeks now, so today I finally made some bread and bought the fixins and mmmm.... so tasty!!!

I also made some homemade peach jam today. The bishop gave us tons of peaches from his trees and I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that it turned out well. It sure made a huge mess!

New Jobs

Last week I was called to be 1st Counselor in the Relief Society (losing my coveted Primary pianist job) and I am excited about the calling. Then this week Steve was called as the Elders Quorum 1st Counselor. Could be busy around here for this family! Thankfully Katie has learned to love nursery and Sarah gets to start going in about 6 weeks. :)

Going Public

I have decided, at least for now, to let my blog be public without restrictions. I have had a few people tell me the site was giving them issues about signing in, so as long as I don't have any troubles, I'll probably leave it open. We shall see...

A few things I've learned

Here are a few things I have learned lately.
1) do not buy paint from Walmart. You get what you pay for (our black paint ended up being rather dark gray- even after 3 coats)
2) I really like Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream, and the commissary sells it for only $2. Yummmmm....
3) I really like "Simply Apple" by the makers of "Simply Orange" and "Simply Lemonade". I never knew there was pasteurized apple juice that actually tastes like apple cider. Sooooooo yummy.
4) my voice must be on mute until I get to the point of almost yelling. My girls are pros at tuning me out until I reach that point.
5) diapers are insanely expensive. It is definitely time to press the issue of potty training Katie.

Steve took his GRE on Saturday and did really well. I am very proud of him. Now he's in the middle of getting letters of recommendation and filling out applications. We decided to apply to (in order of priority): University of Illinois (ideal), Georgia Tech, Purdue and BYU. I am anxious to get this next stage rolling so we can figure out where we will be next. Ah, the life of the military is never without some suspense.

So Saturday we took everyone over to Lawrence (at the University of Kansas campus) so Steve could take his test. Then we continued to Kansas City to go to "Worlds of Fun" and "Oceans of Fun". They were having a special military appreciation deal. We only had to pay for Ellie, which still ended up being $32. But those two parks were great! There were some fun rollercoasters that Steve went on and really enjoyed (he had to ride one twice so he could be in the front row to get the full thrill). And then there was a really fun "Snoopy Land" for the little kids. I was thoroughly impressed with this area. Lots of rides for little ones. We were even able to put Sarah on a couple of them and she had a blast! All three girls could have stayed there the whole day riding on the bugs, cars, swings, boats, airplanes, etc. We brought the camera, but figured it was safer to just leave it in the car. I just wish we could have caught the excited expressions on the girls faces as they rode. We strolled over to Oceans of Fun next and after changing into our suits played in the water for just an hour or so. Except for the little kiddie fort it was geared for the older crowd mostly (including a swim-up bar), and since the girls had to be in life jackets for everything it was more work than we felt it was worth. Plus, it was getting late and we still had a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of us. It really was a great day, though. I'm glad we decided to go. We haven't done a lot of exciting adventures this summer, so this was a great way to end the swim season.

Worst Mom of the Year Award

That is what I felt I deserved on Wednesday. I took Ellie and Katie over to Topeka (an hour away) to see the dentist. I drove all the way there because I had a great reference for a Pediatric Dentist, and I had a horrible experience with a dentist here in the area. So we were up early and out the door before 8am. I knew Ellie had one spot on her teeth that had probably progressed into a cavity. Well, she was a champ getting her teeth cleaned. She thought being in the big chair was very cool. The only reason I took Katie was to get her tooth checked out that she injured a couple months ago. The dentist said it looked fine and not to worry. Well, then the dentist told me the verdict on Ellie. I couldn't believe it- 3 crowns and one cavity filled. Yikes! I was dumbfounded. We try our best to take care of those teeth, too. No fruit snacks anymore, brush extremely well each night and even use a fluoride rinse every night to keep them strong. Obviously to no avail. I was seriously devastated. That wasn't the worst part. We took a 2 hour break (they were able to get us an appointment that afternoon to get the work done so we didn't have to drive back) and then they got to work. I was not allowed back in the room with her, but I thought she would do just fine. Well, an hour later they came and got me. This is when I knew I was the worst mom EVER. They had done the filling and Ellie did great. But it was time for the crowns and Ellie wanted nothing to do with it. I guess she was pulling at the instruments and squirming and making it impossible to work on her. So the dentist wanted to know if they could use a restraining blanket on her. Okay- so I'm crying now just thinking about it. I just about lost it there as well. Of course I consented, because she needed it done and the nitrous oxide wasn't doing anything to calm her down. Another hour later I was called back and there was little Ellie with a very numb cheek and the most sad face I've ever seen. How could I put my little girl through that? Who lets their child's teeth get that bad by age 4? So yeah, still beating myself up about it.

Amazingly Ellie has recovered like a champ. We got her some Ibuprofin and by the time she took the hour-long catnap on the ride home (we didn't get back until almost 5pm) she was back to her old self and hasn't complained since. She talked of soreness that evening at dinner, but nothing else. We joke about how she got crowns on her teeth instead of on her head like most princesses. She thinks that's funny. I never got my first cavity until I was 27, so this is all so unfamiliar and... sad. My poor metal-mouthed girl.

So yeah, not the kind of award I was hoping for this week, but I will accept it dutifully and do my best to try and not let it happen again.

stinky?

We were driving home from church yesterday and Katie scrunched up her nose and said, "something is stinky." I didn't have any ideas, but I heard Ellie whisper quietly to Katie, "I think maybe it's Daddy." We laughed about that one the rest of the way home. Poor Steve...

A quick one

Almost another month already? I've been putting this off and putting this off, thinking I'll have time to get pictures together and really tell how awesome our vacation with Mom, Dad and DickSybil was. But alas, I keep getting distracted with things like curtains for the girls' closet, Stephanie Meyer books, and the usual running around like crazy trying to keep this house clean and still have fun with the girls.

So a few little things, I suppose.

Steve has been really busy with work the last few weeks. Lots of micromanaging from the Brigade Colonel is making things a little tougher on him. Then he comes home and has to study for that rotten GRE. He is being extremely diligent, and he deserves to do very well on that test. He's just tired of all those tricky math questions. Then on top of that he has built me two book shelves, put up that last side of the fence and lets me sleep in when he can. Talk about super-hubby!

We were watching a friend's 3 kids this evening and they were eating dinner with us. Steve told those 3 kids to do something... I honestly can't remember now... and they sort of laughed at it. Ellie very seriously interjected and said- "alright, you'd better listen, because Dad's the boss." So funny... Steve is always saying that I'm the one the girls actually listen to (they have a tendency to come to me and ask me to have Steve do something for them. I'm constantly telling them to just go and ask their dad themselves!)

Katie is for some reason frightened of going to the bathroom in the toilet. But on the same token she wants to wear underwear more than anything. In fact, a couple times I have caught her wearing Ellie's underwear, hidden under her clothes, of course. I know she could do it- the one time I was unaware of this little item of clothing, she started to beg me to put a diaper on her. She had to go to the bathroom and didn't want to get the underwear all wet. So yeah, not sure what the fear is there. She'll sit on it forever, if you really wanted her to. Just won't "go". She is amazingly talented at saying prayers. She's sometimes more articulate than Ellie. Have I mentioned that before?

Sarah just cracks me up. Her facial expressions... are no less amusing than her sisters'. She doesn't actually say the words, but she always grunts her "please and thank you." If you ask a positive question, she'll say uh huh. She still gets ecstatic when Steve comes home and insists on standing outside when he leaves so she can wave good-bye. I just can't get over what a sweet little girl she is. She knows how to crawl around and bark like a dog, right along with her sisters. She can "play dead" and wait for that magical kiss from her sisters to wake her up (for a limited amount of time, of course). She can run now, which is so fun to watch. She yells at her sisters when they're getting too far away on their bikes, or if she wants to call them. It's always a yell and it sounds kind of like "Ah-yah". I think it's for both girls, but definitely for Ellie.

Random facts... Favorite foods:
Ellie- she told us it was turkey and cheese. She also loves strawberries and mac and cheese.
Katie- Definitely mac and cheese, although she likes pizza almost as much as I do.
Sarah- Food. There is very little (besides mashed potatoes) that the girl won't eat. But if I had to pick a favorite: grapes. She would eat grapes all day long if I let her.

And they all love colored marshmallows. It's been the latest after-nap snack. Sarah will eat hers then come up to me and say, "uh- mah". I ask her to say please and she gets that big, irresistible grin on her face and makes the sign for "more". Hey- works for me!

My goal for my next post is to brag about what a great time with had with family here. No promises, but it's a good goal. And I'll try to get pictures as well. Steve's using a new photo sorting software that I haven't played with, which makes it a little intimidating at the moment.

Updates

I know I haven't posted in forever, but I really feel like there hasn't been anything that thrilling going on around here. So I'll just give the update as I see it. We are almost out of boxes. I know I said that last time, but golly- this is taking forever! I really feel like we're making good progress. We've put together a Goodwill pile and a garage sale pile (for the post-wide sale this fall) in our garage. Steve has done a great job getting our audio/video set up as well as hanging lots and lots of pictures and shelves for me. What a great husband he is. So patient.

A couple funny things the girls have said/done lately...

Ellie after church told me she pulled out an eyeball. I was very curious, so I looked and she had an eyelash on her finger. Then again today she told me she pulled out an eyeball and I taught her to make a wish on it. She thought that was pretty fun. I keep trying to tell her the real name, but she does what she wants :) She sounds more and more like me every day. Kind of scary. I have to remind her that she's "not the mom" several times a day. But she also plays extremely well with her sisters and is very creative and smart.

After picking up pizza the other day, Katie told us in the car that she wanted a butt kick. I am totally serious! Okay, the interpretation was she wanted a breadstick, but I promise that's what we heard. So, so funny. Katie has some serious wreckless abandone. She has no true concept of where she is in relation to... anything. She's constantly bumping heads with us (ouch!) or running into things or falling. She has also discovered quite the temper. When things are not going her way- watch out. Ellie or Sarah typically get a pinch, hair pull or a punch as Katie vents that frustration. And since she has a very proficient vocabulary, we hear about it with the screams as well. I'm still trying to figure out how to nip that one in the bud. But at the same time, she is the snuggliest little girl there ever was.

Sarah has learned to spit. The girls all brush their teeth together, so when Steve tells Ellie or Katie to spit, Sarah spits right along with them. About a week ago we were sitting at dinner and Sarah out of the blue yelled, "Dadda, pbpbpb (spit)." She was so proud of herself. She loves her daddy. Out of all the girls she has formed the greatest attachment to Steve and he is loving it. She's still a Momma's girl, of course. But she adores Steve and is always super excited when he comes home from work. She's becoming more and more one of the "girls" and tries to play and run right alongside her sisters. She and Katie have scuffed up knees to prove it. Sarah's hair has been growing great guns, too. It's as long, or longer than Katie's now. I know we have pictures somewhere... I'll try to get some uploaded soon. She is such a sweet little girl.

I have finally been burning our old video tapes onto the computer the last couple days so I can send the camera off to Geoff. Golly, we have a lot of tapes to do! But anyway, it has been fun to relive some of the moments we have captured over the years. I haven't sat and watched all of them, but here and there I've caught a few things. I reminisced visiting Logan with Steve right before Ellie was born. I watched Ellie as a baby and toddler and find it hard to believe I've already forgotten how she was when she was little. It was fun seeing her and Emma Tolman together over the years as well. And then Katie. I cringed at the screaming (yep- it was just as bad as I remember) but also got to enjoy watching her smile and laugh and learn to crawl. I guess her first year wasn't all that bad... ;-) Ellie was sure cute with Katie, too. I think a lot of times I get caught up in the day-to-day grind and forget about the little things that we are blessed with. I need to do that more often. When the girls are fighting and screaming would probably be a good time.

What else have we been doing lately? Well, we got a pool pass to the pools on Post and have gone a few times now. We go over Steve's lunch break and that hour is just right for all of us. We get our fill of swimming, and the girls are exhausted for naps by the time we get home. (Sometimes I am, too!) Steve has loaded up on wood again and is going to build a bookshelf for our room upstairs, a little shelf for my piano music down here in the family room, and eventually a bunk bed for the girls. They are great undertakings, but he is very excited about them.

Steve and I are really enjoying our callings. I haven't ever been in Primary since I graduated at age 12, so it's neat to be back in. And playing piano is really nice. It's low- stress, but very enjoyable. Plus I'm learning the songs so I can help Ellie learn them. I also just received a call to be the Young Women Personal Progress Leader as well. I'm still not quite sure what that means, but as soon as I do I'll be sure to pass it along. Steve teaches the 14-18 Sunday School and really enjoys it. He just really likes to teach in general.

Apparently I had more to post than I thought. Again, I'll look to get pics up soon. We look forward to Mom and Dad and DickSybil visiting next week! Hooray!

Adults say the darndest things

A friend, Jaymie put a post on her blog about all the crazy things her kids "make" her say and it just cracked me up. So I've decided to try and write down some of the things that come out of my mouth that are really quite silly. I'll just add them to the list on the right. I think someday I'll get a kick out of it. The first one is from the other day.

We're just about out of boxes here. There are a bunch in our room and a bunch in the garage, but pretty much everywhere else is all unpacked. Hooray!!!

Family Reunion Photo

Here's the family picture we took at the reunion for those of you that don't know my family that well. This is everyone from my side! :-)

Happy 4th of July!

You won't be seeing many candid shots now that Steve is home, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun now and again. Happy 4th of July!

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

It is amazing and extremely frustrating how slow the unpacking is going. Mom reminded me that I have 2 more kids this go-round, but seriously... over a week in this house and we're still trying to dig our way out. The kitchen was first priority, so that's pretty much done. Everything else is still halfway there. Since I'm on a roll, I'll explain all the other annoyances going on here.

The mold... it won't go away. I'm convinced the garage will never be without the mold smell again. I can feel my lungs filling up with mold spores every time I go out there. Okay, not really- but the smell is awful. Mom's suggestion of Lysol is probably going to be my next route. We keep the door open all day to air it out, but it's not cutting it. Yesterday was trash day, so we threw out a bunch of our yucky stuff. It ended up being two bookcases, an entertainment stand and two trunks that were Steve's from West Point. I put notes on the really gross ones to warn people away, but the two moldiest items were still taken off the curb. It amazes me what people are willing to try and salvage. The worst part about this all, though was our dealings with insurance. I mentioned before that the storage unit refused any responsibility for ruining our things. So we figured our renter's insurance would take care of it. We were wrong! Since mold happens over time, the insurance won't cover it. Had it been an act of God, like tornado ripping the roof off, they might have considered covering us. That news did not make me happy. So we're just out the money for the items we tossed. At least they're finally out of our garage and the smell can start to dissipate. We cleaned up our kitchen table and the cedar chest, which were the two things we really wanted to keep.

A few other things: there's something terribly wrong with our water, the plumbing isn't working right, Steve is still sick (could be the water?), and I'm still living with boxes.

On a positive note: we are living in our own space. I love carpet. My birthday present TV is really, really nice. Like Dad mentioned, one way or another we will be getting that fourth side of our fence (a Better Business complaint has been submitted, but if that falls through- a guy in the ward has offered us his fence for free as he's moving in a few weeks). As far as we know, most of the mold has been eradicated. Steve is still home from Iraq. Yeah... can't really think of a lot right now. Pretty sad.

The girls are changing quite a bit. They love having all their new toys to play with. Ellie and Katie both enjoy their "big kid beds". Sarah is much more interactive with the girls, which is sometimes hilarious to watch. She's trying to talk more, but it just ends up being really loud screams just like her sisters. She's very good at getting up and down stairs, which is comforting. Katie is getting rooked into playing with Ellie and is usually in the middle of the trouble as well. Katie ends up being the daddy or the baby most times because Ellie is always the mommy. Ellie is back into the mode of changing clothes many times a day, which I actually enjoy watching.

Something funny- Ellie asked me the other day if being the mom was annoying? I had to laugh at that one.

Hopefully the next time I post I will have better news to report. This has been a horrible week for us and we are anxious to be done with it! :-D

Upheaval

That is the story of our life. Tonight I am going to vent and maybe even whine about our circumstances. But first on a positive note... we have our house!! We're not actually living in it, but we moved all our miscellaneous belongings from the garage here into the garage over there... So we're making progress.

But now to my laundry list. First of all, my girls are not good with change (can't imagine where they get that from!) I have heard crying and whining practically nonstop the last couple days. Having Sarah attached to my hip has not made things easy. Put on top of that Sarah and Katie teething (figured out Katie is by chance this afternoon), it has not been a very fun party around here. Then to add to it all, Sarah has been waking up multiple times at night and Ellie has wet her bed the last three nights in a row. I suppose all kids have a hard time with change, it's just that my girls have experienced a TON of change the last two months. I am certainly ready for consistency!

Something funny- Steve and I are having a really hard time in that new house. It is the exact mirror opposite of our last house on post, so we keep getting mixed up. It is going to take awhile to figure out who belongs in which room and get used to moving in the right direction in that house.

Tiff's Housing Update

Alone… we are finally alone. I thought I would feel a lot more relief today, as CarmaLee and her family left for their vacation. I think the problem is that we’re still here. Until we’re in our own home with our own things I won’t be completely at ease. And here’s the update about all that:

We sign for our house tomorrow. Yay!!! The girls and I walked over yesterday and saw that the cleaning crew was there getting it ready to be moved into, which is nice. We checked out the back yard and the girls were getting excited about having their own home and their own space. But, there’s a catch to that backyard. Right before we left on leave the guy that lived there before, Mark, offered to have us buy the fence that covered the back yard. It was adjoining the neighbor’s fence. This was ideal, as our house sits on the corner of two busy roads. I thought it was great! We paid quite a bit for it, but since we’ll probably resell it when we leave, it really seemed like a great thing. I like feeling a little safer about letting the girls outside! Then we got home from leave and as we were driving past the house Steve noticed something that wasn’t quite right. We pulled over and he took a walk into the back yard only to discover something very sad… we now only had a three-sided fence. Yeah- when the neighbors moved out, the fence company they rented from took all four of their sides, leaving only three for us. Mark assured us that he owned all four sides, but alas- not a full fence. It is currently being disputed and hopefully the fencing company will cave in and put our fourth side of the fence back up. nothing can be easy, right?

So we sign for the house tomorrow. Then we were able to schedule to have our belongings from the storage unit picked up and delivered by the military, which means I don’t need to be as concerned about the Elder’s Quorum ruining my things :) Unfortunately the first date we could get is Tuesday, so it looks like we’ll be staying at CarmaLee’s until then. My only consolation is that we are here alone now and I don’t have to cook for, clean up after or babysit her kids now. I really don’t know how I survived these last two weeks. Heavenly Father blessed me with some amazing patience and perseverance. Trust me, there were days… Two families with two very different lifestyles under the same roof just doesn’t work so well long-term. I am grateful that CarmaLee let us stay here. I’m just glad the end is in sight.

And there you have it!

Friday the 13th

Friday the thirteenth… there are movies made about that day! Well, thankfully I don’t put a lot of stock into superstition, so nothing could touch me! If only that were true. We decided that since Steve had the day off we would go over to Topeka to get a few things from Sam’s that we needed. We thought the girls would sleep during the hour-long drive there. Of course not! So then we decided to have lunch at Olive Garden, figuring the girls would be happy eating breadsticks until the food arrived. Ha! Not a chance. They squirmed and screamed and ran and did anything and everything to make that meal absolutely miserable. We were both ready to give the girls away by the end of the meal. The only positive thing was that the food did taste really good. From there we made a couple quick stops at Target, Kohl’s (this one I did alone and had quick fun at the children’s clearance racks) and finally Sam’s. The girls were miserable in Sam’s Club as well. We still managed to spend an amazing amount of money and escape with our sanity. The girls stayed awake on the way home from Topeka as well. We made a stop at Coldstone for a yummy ice cream cake for my birthday (yummm) and got home to feed the girls. Ellie had a meltdown at the dinner table because she didn’t want what we were having. Katie was overtired and just wanted to go to bed. Sarah was just hungry and felt better once she was fed. We got the two little ones to bed by 6:45 and told Ellie that we were going to a movie and Carma Lee would put her to bed. She did not appreciate that. We left anyway! :)

So we got to the movie theater only to find out that they changed the order of showings within the last 2 days and we didn’t know it (this on-post theater only shows one movie a night). Instead of showing the chick flick we wanted to see, it was “Speed Racer.” Yeah- been there, done that- definitely not interested in going there again! I about cried. My only consolation was that I got to come home and read “Eclipse”, the third book in the “Twilight” series that had arrived in the mail that afternoon (I was introduced to this series in Idaho and had read the first two books earlier in the week... which is why I don't read books very often- I get addicted!).

As I put this to paper (well, cyberspace) it doesn't seem as terrible as it did then. But trust me, it was a long day! Happy Birthday to me?

Firsts

Ellie had a big day of "firsts" on Sunday. To start, she was able to pay tithing for the very first time. Steve let her help wash dishes a couple times and she was paid for her help. She was able to hand the bishop a tithing envelope for the very first time. She really liked that. Then during Sacrament meeting I was out in the hall with Sarah (as usual). I peeked in the chapel and saw Steve get up. He didn't come out to the hall, so I figured he had gotten up to bear his testimony. I heard silence, so I peeked in and saw Ellie up there in front of the microphone! I thought, "I wonder if Steve knows he's not allowed to prompt her?" But next thing I know Ellie said, "Testimony" and gave the sweetest little testimony. It put a lump in my throat, I was so proud of her. I didn't realize she knew what a testimony was, let alone know what to say if she went up there! It sure made me proud of her.

Sarah got her 6th tooth on Sunday as well. She's still not feeling well, so I don't know if there are more teeth coming or if she picked up a bug on Sunday.

We are excited to go on leave in just 4 more sleeps. :-D

The Happenings in Kansas

Congrats to Geoff and Emily! Their baby girl was born last night at 10:14 in New Haven, CT. She is named Audrey Lyn Streeter and was 21 3/4 inches long and 8 lbs 8 oz. I am so anxious to meet her!!!

Here is the latest from Fort Riley, Kansas...

After about 2 weeks of hopping hotel rooms, we were unable to get another reservation in the temporary housing on post. A friend of ours, Carma Lee offered to have us stay at her house for those nights, which was extremely generous. She has a 4-bedroom house and actually had a room free for us to use. After those two nights she offered to have us just stay here and we took her up on the offer. Again- extremely generous. So, we're no longer vagabonds necessarily, but rather squatters :-) It has worked out well. Carma Lee's husband has been deployed for almost 8 months now. She has 3 kids- 8, 6 and 4 years old. The kids get along really well, which is nice. Of course the longer we're here, the more they treat each other as siblings (don't get along quite as well) but for the most part it has been really nice.

Status of housing: We have been offered a house back on Wofford (where we lived before). The only downside is that it won't be available until June 24th. The whole reason we took ourselves off the 4-bedroom list and got on the 3-bedroom list was because we were told we could get a house by April. It would probably have been June or July for a 4-bedroom. Nice... And they won't put us back on the 4-bedroom list without sticking us back at the bottom of the list. It's frustrating, but what do you do? One nice thing about the house we're getting- they have up a fence and are willing to sell it to us for a fraction of what they paid for it. So that will offer some privacy and safety (the house is on the corner of 2 busy streets). At least we know we will have a place eventually. We will be gone for a month, so it won't be too bad a wait. Plus, Carma Lee is going on vacation in June and said we can house-sit here until we get our house, so that's nice.

We are really looking forward to going on leave. We will take off from here on May 10th and head to Mom and Dad's. Then we meet up with the Tolmans in Ohio on Monday the 12th for some super-fun swimming (Wolf Lodge) and birthday parties and maybe zoo and childrens museum. We're just anxious to see them again. They are definitely awesome friends and it's nice to have the chance to get together. We haven't thought any farther than that except for the family reunion in Utah the first week of June. Can't wait to meet the newest niece and nephew!

A couple little things about the girls-

Ellie has gone the last couple nights without a pull-up or diaper and has been completely dry by morning. This is big news for us! We figured out she could handle it when we heard her get up one night to go to the bathroom by herself. Hooray for no more diapers for Ellie! She is almost 4 years old, after all...

Katie has amazed us lately in her ability to sing. We were driving around town and she started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and knew every single word. Same with "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Skip to my Lou" and "London Bridges". I really didn't know she knew the words by herself. She even got the tunes completely right. Impressive.

Sarah has 3 new teeth. That makes 5 total now. And there's one more on its way any day now. She has done really well with all those teeth coming in at once. She is walking great, even running at times.

Promised Pictures

Here are a couple of the pictures we've taken. With the first one keep in mind that it is at 1:45AM. The other picture was taken today.

Paddywhack

Steve had to go check in Friday morning and while he was there he found a huge pile of candy for the soldiers. He picked up a package of tic-tacs. I can't remember the last time I had a tic-tac. Anyway- Ellie asked what they were and Steve started singing, "tic-tac paddy-whack give your dog a bone..." Ellie really likes those candies, so now when she wants one, she asks, "Daddy, can I have a paddy-whack?" Still makes me laugh when I think about it.

It's been really crazy for us. We've moved 4 times in the last week. We can't get a reservation for longer than 3 nights here on post. And with each reservation it's a different room- in the same building. We have to be out of the room by 11, then can't move back in until 3pm. Of course that 4-hour break is right in the middle of nap time. We are getting more proficient at what we bring in the room, but it's still a huge pain, especially if Steve is at work when we're moving out. We have a microwave and tiny fridge in the room and there is a kitchen at the end of the hall here. We've used the kitchen once to bake a Papa Murphy's pizza. Luckily there's free laundry down at the end of the hall as well. We eat out at least once a day and are already getting tired of it. Yuck. I think Steve is making up for lost time as it comes to take-out pizza.

We took the girls to the circus on Saturday. We got free tickets from the Army and drove the hour to Salina where the Shriners sponsored the circus. We stayed just the first half (attention span of two little girls prohibited staying longer... Ellie would have made it). Ellie loved the tigers and horses that we did see. It was a very well-done show, though.

Other than that we're just trying to survive. I have to say I'm not good at this. Arranging bedtimes for three girls in one room has been a nightmare. It's usually at least 9pm before we get all three to sleep. Katie has to go to bed first, otherwise she climbs into Sarah's bed and wakes her up. But then of course Katie wakes up first and then climbs into Sarah's bed and gets her up much earlier than she is ready. She actually did that during Sarah's nap this morning while I was in the shower. Sarah also got her third tooth Sunday.

But in the end it is wonderful to have Steve home. He started back to work yesterday, which is usually just 2-3 hours a day of classes. Then he gets to hang with us, which we are really enjoying. The girls have warmed up to him very well. Sarah isn't completely convinced, but she's getting there. It's just really nice to have him here.

We have been taking pictures, but I can't seem to find the time to do anything with them. Eventually I promise to get some posted.

HE'S HOME!!!!!

Steve is home safe and sound (arrived at 1:30 this morning) and we just love having him here. It's almost surreal that he's actually home and we will somehow find a way to survive life in this hotel room for the next month! I'll write more when I get pictures off the camera.

Final Word

We've been informed that our welcoming ceremony is schedule for 4:15 AM Tuesday morning. Certainly not ideal, but Steve's coming home, so I'll take what I can get!!! Next time I write Steve will be home :-D

Also, we had the pleasure of having Bishop Burton at our Stake Conference today, which was a real treat. He spoke about prophets and it was really quite enjoyable. Dick commented on how soothing his voice was (as it put him to sleep!). Sybil was sweet and watched the girls while I enjoyed an hour of conference (which was right during afternoon naps).

Where Are They Now?

First of all- Congrats to Brad and Brandalee on their marriage today! I am so excited to have a new sister-in-law and can't wait to get to know her! I heard their day has been perfect and I really wish I was there to join in the celebration.

But instead, here we are, still sitting in Illinois waiting for Steve. The good news is that he is in Kuwait and we expect him home sometime between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. We are obviously more than ready to have him home!!! Some other good news is that we were finally able to get a reservation for temporary housing on post, so we will only be in that one-room hotel room the first night. Hooray! Then it is fairly likely that we will get a house on post by mid-May. Again- very good news. Now I am feeling the stress of getting packed and ready to go. I'm trying to get as much done tonight so I don't have to be worrying about it on Sunday. Dick and Sybil have been wonderful and have really helped out by watching the girls while I ran errands and packed the van. While I have anticipated this for over a year, it is still hard to believe that Steve is actually coming home to stay. And hard to believe I'm going to make that 10-hour trip to Kansas on Monday by myself again! Just two more sleeps... :)

Frustration

The Army can sure be annoying sometimes. Steve is finally at Biap (Baghdad International Airport) but now it'll be a couple days before he leaves for Kuwait and who knows when he'll be flying home. I probably could have made it for my brother's wedding this weekend after all. I am beyond frustrated!

On a lighter note, the picture site is up and running again so I loaded pictures from the last two months on there. They work best if you use the slideshow function on the side, FYI. Click here for the "Newest Pictures"

and then there were just two....days that is!

(taken from Steve's blog...)

Well, it is hard to believe, but the time is here that I finally go home! And with the job at West Point pending, hopefully, this will be my last deployment at least for another six years. That sure will be a blessing for our family.

We finished up all of the swap out activities, we call them RIP activities (relief in place), on the 1st, so since then we haven't done a whole lot of anything but wait. We preplanned in a little extra cushion into our plan in case things didn't work out, but it turns out that everything worked out just fine with very few setbacks, so that is good. We handed over all of our equipment and our buildings and we are pretty much homeless living out of our tents. I've found a little corner of our old office to put my laptop to continue to check email and chat with Tiff in the evenings.

Things are all set and I'm super excited to go home. We did learn of one snag in the plan this week though pertaining to housing. This has been an ongoing challenge for quite a few months now. We thought we had it solved by using temporary housing on post, but it looks like that turned into a pretty solid dead end this week. On Post housing will not be available until some time in May, probably mid-may at the earliest, so our plan was to stay in temporary housing at Fort Riley until that time. Well, Tiff called up temporary housing this past week 7 days out from when she is planning to head out there (on the 10th) and they told her that we wouldn't be able to stay in there as priority goes to incoming Soldiers and families that are moving from other locations, not to redeploying Soldiers. And even if we could get in there, we would only be able to stay for a maximum of 3 days at a time. The frustrating point is that we have called them quite a few times prior and this is the first time they have mentioned anything about this limitation. Secondly, even if we could get a reservation they are completely sold out for at least a week after Tiff is scheduled to be back at Fort Riley and I come home. So we've spent the last few days looking at other options such as finding a place that is willing to do rent month by month or find a hotel that has suites and a long term rate.

It is amazing how many obstacles we've hit with this situation. This definitely brings new meaning to the scripture "there was no room at the Inn". There is only one place that has suites in the area that has a close off second area, but they wouldn't budge on their $135/night even if we were to stay the whole month there, so that would end up costing a prohibitive $4000+/month to stay there. After talking to a bunch of owners and Realtors, I've yet to find anyone that is willing to do month by month rent too. The shortest they will negotiate for is 6mo. My Battalion Commander even tried to call in a favor to the Post Commander to get us into temporary housing, but to no avail. He tried to call in some favors to housing to see if we could get a house earlier, but there really is just nothing available right now. The ward back in Junction City has been trying to help us find something to rent, but again, nothing has come up that we can do month by month. So it looks like we'll be in a one room hotel for a month (because the girls are too young to have their own room) until we can either get a house on post or head off on leave in May. It is looking like we'll be on leave before we actually are offered something. We'll continue to pray for it to work out one way or another.

One potential silver-lining is that the one hotel we found that actually has a room available for the whole month also turns out to have the best room rates we could find. Also, we found out after some inquiring with a clerk yesterday, that they have a few rooms that have a connecting door, so we might be able to work a deal with the manager next week for two connecting rooms and make an ad-hoc suite so we can get the girls into their own room at least part of the time which would be a nice blessing for naps, sanity, and sleeping arrangements.

Well, just a couple more days and my days of Iraqi living will be over (hopefully indefinitely!). I sure do appreciate all of the support and prayers that have been said on my behalf and the behalf of our family, I have definitely felt them and been the recipient of many blessings while I've been here and our family has been well taken care of. My thanks and gratitude to everyone.

Home Stretch

So, like Steve said- we're getting really close to his homecoming. We are obviously very excited, yet a little nervous about the living arrangements. I have decided to take only what we will need in that little hotel room and we'll pick up the rest when we come through here in May.

It's been really busy around here. I finished up my last big sewing project and am pleased yet again with how it turned out. I'm ready to take a break from the sewing machine for awhile!

Sarah is a full-blown walker. She rarely crawls anymore. She has a kind of diagonal shuffle which is just really funny to watch. I will catch her on video soon to show just how darling she is.

Katie loves to sing and I got her on video singing her latest. She makes me laugh. She has most definitely hit those terrible 2's though. Ellie somehow put those off until age 3. But we're getting full-blown 2-year old around here lately. Mom's comment was that Katie stopped screaming right before Steve left (colic) and started screaming again right before he came home. And yet she's also the sweetest little girl and we just love her regardless of the craziness.



Ellie has a special going away party with her sunbeam class tomorrow, which she is super excited about. I think it's really sweet of her teacher to invite a bunch of 3-year olds into her home for pizza and a movie. I'm curious to see what movie Ellie decides to take tomorrow. Our favorite lately has been "Enchanted", which we watch just about every other day together.

So in the meantime I'm trying to pretend I'm packing and getting ready to go. Definitely a bittersweet move for us. We are going to miss Mom and Dad and the Smiths terribly.

New Dress

I'll write more later, but for now I have to show off my handiwork. This is by far my favorite thing that I've sewn. There are even matching bloomers, which Ellie loves.

Happy Easter

Not typical Easter weather, but it was snowing as we were heading out to church this morning. Then there was a gorgeous snowfall with huge flakes this afternoon with the sun peaking through. Katie had a great time outside while we waited for dinner to get finished. Unfortunately I was unable to get pictures of the girls in their dresses until after church, and that never goes over well (grumpy and hungry!). I suppose I'll have to dress them up again soon and try again. But they were just darling in their Easter dresses (if I do say so myself) and it makes me proud to be Mom to such wonderful little girls. I love Easter with all the pastel colors. They really make me happy :-) But really, this is a great season to remember the great sacrifice of our Savior and the the promise that we can be forgiven of all our sins and live forever with our families because of what He did for us. We're down to less than 3 weeks and we'll be together with Steve, which is another wonderful blessing!

Sarah has decided to walk, and is now taking probably 10 steps at a time now. She has amazing balance and can't wait to chase after those sisters of hers! She is growing up much too fast. She has decided to wean herself, so we don't get that snuggle time very often anymore. I'm just glad she loves to be swaddled and likes to lay her head on my shoulder as I rock her before I put her to bed. I love our snuggle time. Katie is the same way. We sing a few songs before nap time and bedtime and she always lays her head on my shoulder and sings along. It makes me want to hold her forever when she does that. She's definitely my snuggliest little girl and I love it! I love how Ellie likes to hear stories every night (although I'm running out of things to tell stories about) and just how inquisitive she is about life. We like our special time at night when everyone else is in bed. These little angels sure grow up too fast, though.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

A Happy Easter song for everyone to enjoy

Katie's 2!!

What a great birthday Katie had today. She got to celebrate ladybugs with all of us, including Dick and Sybil (of course) and had a wonderful time. She got a ladybug puppet, remote control ladybug, ladybug jammies, a puzzle and spinning top from Grandma and Grandpa, and a shirt and book from Dick and Sybil. Whew! Grandma did an amazing job frosting the ladybug cake and we all enjoyed devouring it! Hard to believe Katie's already 2 years old. I sure love my little Katie Bear!

I'm having issues with the picture site again, so as soon as I can figure out what the deal is, I'll post all the pictures from the last couple months...